Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says prolific try-scoring hooker Tom Stewart "deserves every plaudit he gets".

He is now the leading try-scorer in the competition's history, having scored a remarkable 17 during the 2022-23 term.

"Tom's been brilliant," enthused McFarland after the win in Belfast.

"There is a skill to scoring tries off the back of a maul. Some of them are pretty easy but some of them are pretty difficult and he's worked hard for that.

"People think it's just about dotting them down but you need to read the timing when to break out of the back - he's got a lot of decision-making to do and there's a lot of skill in the execution."

Stewart, 22, secured a treble in Ulster's previous URC victory over the Bulls on 25 March and his scoring bonanza has helped the Irish province to continue their challenge for the second place in the table which would ensure home advantage in a potential play-off semi-final.

Ulster are assured of hosting their quarter-final tie at home but before that Edinburgh will provide the opposition for their final game of the regular season next Friday night.

"Edinburgh have some real threats, they're a very dangerous team and Mike Blair is a great coach," reflected McFarland.

"They really enjoy playing in attack, they've got some strong running forwards and some really quick backs. We'll have to be a lot better in defence and exiting than we were tonight [Friday].

"Defensively I thought we were really poor [against the Dragons]. I know the guys were disappointed with that.

"There wasn't the urgency around that. I don't know whether that was because we got into a little bit of a lead and it didn't seem as important.

"That and our exiting weren't up to the standard we need if we want to go far in the league."

Wing Jacob Stockdale racked up three try assists in an impressive display, while scrum-half John Cooney also showed good form in a performance which had McFarland gushing about his back-line.

"We showed some really good stuff in attack in particular. I thought we showed ambition in key areas and the plays that we wanted to execute were done superbly.

"Dan Soper's attack looked sharp and the players implemented that. The backs really looked as if they were firing and dangerous."